O.C. power couple have it all blow up

A 2011 photo shows Kristina Dodge, left, holding Alexandra, one of the baby triplets, while Lawrence Dodge sits with Tatiana, and DeAun Nixon, far right, holds Cozette. The children in the center of the photo include another set of triplets, seen at age 11. They are, from left, Thomas, 11; Austin; Alexa Bhardwaj, 11; Laurenz Dodge; and Nicholas, 11. PHOTO: JOHNCHAPPLE.COM

In a mansion by the sea, they lived as one big family.

Orange County power couple Lawrence and Kristina Dodge resided in the ocean-view main house in Monarch Bay along with their teenage daughter and 2-year-old triplet girls. Their friend, DeAun Nixon, and her four teenage children – including another set of triplets – piled into the downstairs granny pad, rent free.

The Dodges talked publicly about how they were 11 people under one roof, a family so unusual they pitched a reality show to cable TV producers. Key to the pitch was this: Nixon, 51, was the surrogate birth mother to the triplet girls sired by Lawrence Dodge, 73.

The project fell through.

Then the fantasy crumbled.

Lawrence Dodge, who made his fortune in banking, was accused in 2009 of violating federal banking regulations and was barred from the industry, a decision he is fighting. The Dodges filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 5, 2012 – the same day their $9.3 million home was taken back by their lender, though they remain on the property.

And the relationship between the Dodges and Nixon soured. Even before the foreclosure, the Dodges were evicting Nixon and her children from the home. She has yet to move.

Critically, Nixon has filed for parental rights for the three girls she bore with a donor's eggs and sperm from Lawrence Dodge, then 71.

Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, 51, are shuffling among bankruptcy court, family court and Superior Court, where they are being accused in a lawsuit of reneging on a $4 million pledge to an art institute in Kansas City.

Although they confirmed the surrogacy, the Dodges declined to comment for this article.

Nixon isn't so shy.

"We were this modern-day family. There was no discussion that this was going to end, that it was going to be over," Nixon said recently as she perched at the kitchen bar inside the seaside granny pad. The Pacific Ocean sparkled through the open glass doors, waves roaring in the background.

"I'm a little naive," Nixon added. "I'm a Kansas girl at heart. When I care about people, I would do anything for them."

Experts say the surrogacy case is a legal mess and another in a long line of examples why fertility should be better regulated.

"This case is like a poster ... of why you need more oversight," said New York University Professor Arthur Caplan, one of the country's premier bioethicists.

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A 2011 photo shows Kristina Dodge, left, holding Alexandra, one of the baby triplets, while Lawrence Dodge sits with Tatiana, and DeAun Nixon, far right, holds Cozette. The children in the center of the photo include another set of triplets, seen at age 11. They are, from left, Thomas, 11; Austin; Alexa Bhardwaj, 11; Laurenz Dodge; and Nicholas, 11. PHOTO: JOHNCHAPPLE.COM
DeAun Nixon holds a sign she keeps on a wall next to family photos that proclaims "love is all you need." She is in a court battle with Lawrence and Kristina Dodge for parental rights of 2-year-old triplets for whom she was a surrogate mother. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Not so long ago, the Dodges, shown in 2007, were in a position to give millions to a variety of causes, including the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and St. Margaret's Episcopal School, among others. Their $20 million donation to Chapman University in 2004 was the second largest in school history and helped create the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. FILE: BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DeAun Nixon looks out at the ocean near her guest home where she has lived rent-free. The home is part of Lawrence and Kristina Dodges' $9.3 million home, which is being foreclosed. She had a falling out with the couple after being a surrogate mother to their triplets and is suing for parental rights. “We were this modern-day family. There was no discussion that this was going to end, that it was going to be over,” Nixon said recently. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Laurenz Dodge, left, does a little jig in this 2007 photo as her parents, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, discuss their $10 millon donation to the Orange County Performing Arts Center. OPAC's education center was named in the family's honor. FILE: BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DeAun Nixon wonders what is next after being asked to leave Lawrence and Kristina Dodge's $9.3 million Dana Point home. She lives there rent-free with her four children. She was the surrogate mother to triplets that the Dodges are raising, but now she is suing for parental rights. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kristina Dodge gets a hug from her friend Twyla Martin after Dodge and her husband, Lawrence, donated $20 million to Chapman University in 2004. The donation helped create the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. FILE: MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DeAun Nixon, a surrogate mother of triplets for Kristina and Lawrence Dodge, the father of the children, holds a photo of both families, a total of 11 people, who lived under one roof. But after a falling out, the Dodges want Nixon and her four children out and they don't want her having contact with the 2-year-old triplets. She is suing for parental rights of the girls. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DeAun Nixon, the surrogate mother of triplets being raised by power couple Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, holds a picture of the "blended" family during happier times. She lives rent-free in a granny pad at the Dodges' $9.3 million home with an ocean view but is being evicted after her relationship with the couple soured. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DeAun Nixon holds a picture of her family and Lawrence and Kristina Dodge's family, taken before a falling out. She is the surrogate mother for triplets being raised by the Dodges and lives rent-free in their guest home overlooking the ocean. She is being evicted and is suing for parental rights of the triplets. She did not have a clear contract. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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